Adjusting-buckle.



B. F. OREWILER ADJUSTING BUCKLE. APPLICATIGN FILED APR-21. 1916- Patented Dec. 11', 191% lit till

us ATENT OFFICE Bllflh'llhlltilltf r. oianwrtnia, or cnrcaeo, ILLINOIS.

ADJUSTING-BUCKLE.

lie it known that l, BENJAMIN F, Una witna, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook. and V litate ot lllinois, have invented certain new and useful improvements in. Adjustingflucklcs, 01 which the tollowing is a specilication.

l'.he present invention relates to a buckle for enabling the adjustment ot' the length of a suspendinp; strap, and is oi the general type of buckle shown and described in my issued Patent l lo. 1,193,050, granted August 1, 1916, tor adjusting buckles.

'lfhe objects of the present invention are, to construct a buckle of the type abovelretori-ed to, which. will require a relatively small amount 01' metal for the production thorcojt, thus reducing the cost of manui acture, and which will be of a narrow elongated character, DOSSQSSlIlg an attractive appearance when placed upon the webbing; to arrange suitable springcatch members for holding; the back and lover portions of the buckle together, and thus hold the buckle in closed position; and to provide a buckle which will be easy and practical of use with various thicknesses oil fabric and havinga fabric-covering :tor the back thereof provided.

The invention further consists in the tea tures of construction and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

in the drawings: a t

Figure 1 is a trout view of a portion of a garter with the buckle of the present inven tion applied thereto;

i i 2, a vertical section, showing the buckle in open position;

llig. 3, a view similar to the buckle in closed position;

lTig. 1-, a perspective showing in closed position; and

Fig. 5, a perspective showing the buckle in open position.

lln the art to which tl. e present invention relates, there are certain points which must be present in order to provide a buckle which is of practical commercial merit. Among these are, first, to arrange the buckle SO as to have the webbing with which it is used iform a fabric covering; for the back; second, to arrange the clamping member so that it will easily and etlicientlv operate with either a thin webbing" or a thick webbing, since the webbing with which these buckles are 2, showing the buckle specification of Lettersfatelit.

191G. SerialNoBStfiOti.

tedfllee 19 7:

used, varies considerably in thickness:v and third, to apply, the webbingtothebuckle,

in a manner wherebystitching is, eliminated,

which is detrimental, in that it may severthe elastic cards that the tioity 01' the webbing.

The buckle of the pres entvinvention has; all of the abovesstated features; as, will be,

apparent from the following. description.

Referring now. to; the drawings, the buckle i;

to of the,,elastic webbing so A v W hovel, ancltles ey the is shownas apyfliedtoan elastic webbing'b whicl' is looped at its lowerendto receive an attachment 7 joined to a hoseqsupporter clasp 8, The parts 7 and 8 can, 01: course, i

be of any suitable construction, and the sul 'ject-matter ofthe present invention is en tirely independent of the construction of these parts.

The buckle whiclp forms the subjectanat ter of the invention consists of a back 9 and a :i'ront or lever portionulO. The back is formed with a single horizontal slot 11, prov1d1ngan appear-a l 12 anda lower rail 13,

with side, rails 14: connecting the upper and,

lower rails. The lower end 15 of the back,

111 the construction; shown, is-bent, rearwardly and upwardly to form a .U1 l1apedu slot 16 on then-ear of the back, into which slot is entered oneend 17,01, the webbing 6, and ,whenthe bent portion is swag d i d, it clamps and retains the webbing end, for1n- 111g aineans for securing the. webbing; to @the back .of .the buckle. This webbing passes from sa d slot over the upperedac otthe portlonlfi Figs. 2 and3),thcnce down 1 wardly and back upon itself to form a loop 18, thencewiu. front otthelowerwbar 13, thence through the slot 11, and to the rear oi the upper bar 12, and thence on upward.

By referring now to Figs. 2 and 3, it will be apparent that this arrangement provides a fabric covering for the rear of the buckle, which, as stated is one 01 the points neces sary for a commercially practical buckle of this character. The lever member is formed at its upper end with companion loops 19, one on each side (see Figs. 1, 4L and 5). These loops are bent around the upper bar 12 (see Figs. 2 and 3), whereby a hinged connection is provided between the back and lever member; and at the upper end of the lever member is formed a web-engaging portion 20, which consists, as sho n. of a plurality of tines or points, which are bent to extend inwardly and downwardly.

: act-to deiiect the webbing to the rear of they buckle, but simply rests in a position to engage the outer faceof the webbing without distorting the webbing from the position it initially assumed when threaded. This is an important feature, since when strain is placed upon the buckle, the webbing will assume substantially the same relation to the front of the buckle, Whether it be thick or thin, and the relation so assumed will bring theouter surface of the Webbing into engagement with the ends of the web-engaging portion 20, so that these ends will catch the surface of the webbing and resist and check any sliding of the webbing through the buckle. And, owing to the fact that no forcing of the Webbing is produced by this webengaging part of the lever, it is obvious that the buckle is as easily closed and opened with a thin fabric as with a thick.

Owing to the fact that no positive clamping action is exerted by the web-engaging portion, it is necessary to provide some means for holding the lever and back portion of the buckle together and maintainthe *buckle in closed position; and to bring this about, I providespring members or fingers 21, one on each side of the lower end of the lever portion (see Figs. 4 and 5), and when the buckle is closed these fingers or catches snap over the lower ends 22 of the sides of the back of the buckle, providing a spring :atch connection between. the lever portion and back for holding the buckle in closed position. \Vhen strain is exerted upon the web bing, the action of the strain will lend to throw the lever member toward the back, and this strain will therefore assist in maiutaining the buckle in closed position.

The operation of the device is thought to be clear from the foregoing and a detailed description thereof need not be entered into.

I claim:

A. buckle comprising a ba ck portion and a lever portion, said back portion being formed with a straight front section having a single horizontally extending slot therein providing an upper ail, a lower rail, and side rails therebetween, the lower end o'l said front section being bent rearwardly and up wardly to provide a U-shapcd slot to receive and retain one end of the webbing, the upper edge of said bent back portion being ap proximately in alinement with the lower wall of said slot, said webbing extending across the upper edge of the bout back portion, thence downwardly along the rear ol said portion, thence back upon itself to form a loop, thence in front of the bottom rail, thence through the slot to the rear of the back, whereby a fabric covering for the baelt is produced, said lerer member being hinged to'the upper bar, a web-engaging member at the upper portion of the lever member, said engaging member when the buckle is closed reaching approximatey to the position inb tially assumed by that part of the webbing which it engages, and a spring-catch con nection between the lever portion and th sides of the back for holding the buckle closed, said lever portion being bent intermediate its joined and free ends to cause said free end to extend outwardly and aecommodate itself to the threaded fabric when the buckle is closed, substzuil'ially as described.

BENJ. F. OREXVILER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, 3 Washington, D. C. 

